* Infant was 4 days old * Father said he was only left alone for a few seconds

(CNN) -- A 4-day-old died after being attacked by his family's pit bull terrier Sunday evening at his home in Jacksonville, Florida, according to John Harrell, a spokesman with the Florida's Department of Children and Family.

The infant's father told CNN affiliate WJXT he and the baby's mother only left the child alone for a few seconds when the attack occurred.

Jacksonville Sheriff's office along with Florida's child welfare agency are investigating the incident as a child death.

The state agency will determine if the child was unsupervised and for how long.

"Our investigation will reveal if the incident was abuse, neglect or an accident," said the DCF spokesman.

The state agency's report will show if the the dog had any history of aggression. The father told WJXT the dog had never shown aggression toward any member of the family. DCF reminded parents how dangerous it is for pets to be around small children.

"It's a very tragic case and our sympathy goes out to everyone who knew the child, " said Harrell.

The final report on the incident is expected to take weeks to complete.

WJXT reported the dog was euthanized.Oh Gawd.

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are Anger and Courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”----Augustine

Tubular Toby wrote:How many children must die before parents STOP leaving kids and pets unsupervised?

Oh no, we blame the DOG here, and the BREED especially. Parents are NOT responsible for this!

I personally know someone who had their Golden bite their critically ill infant. The dog had been growling at the baby for quite some time, and eventually bit it. But, of course, they said "it was out of nowhere" and "there was no warning!" I wanted to scream at them... They had PILES of warnings from the dog, they ignored them.

Michelle

Inside me is a thin woman trying to get out. I usually shut the bitch up with a martini.

=( It makes me so sad. Because it's a lose/lose situation that I can't imagine a solution to. You can hope that people will educate themselves on dog behavior and learn how to see these signs... but working on the front lines of the pet retail world, it seems a lot people don't care to try to understand their dog. You can tell them all day that shocking a dog when it jumps on/gets too rowdy with a child has potential to teach the dog that a kid equals discomfort or even pain, but they just look at you and go "Well, I'm going to try it anyway."

To be ignorant is one thing. To actively REFUSE knowledge and advice is something totally different and unfortunately, more common than you'd hope.

And don't even get me started on teaching kids how to behave around dogs. I know with some kids what you tell them is in one ear out the other. But you repeat it and you repeat it frequently. And you take opportunities to educate, for example when your kid runs up to a strange dog in public (assuming, again, that you are supervising your kid) you let them know that it's not safe and that at the very least they should ask. So many negligent parents.

If anyone is online now, Victoria Stillwell (and others) are on CNN Headline News show Prime News discussing this case right now. She is emphasizing that it can happen with ANY breed and children should never be left alone with a dog.BTW, they are taking calls...going to be interesting to hear how the public is going to react.

So how did it go on CNN?I missed it, any one watch it?That poor child! Why would you ever leave a Newborn alone with a dog?People are so damn ignorant! And of course it had to be a pit, what else would an ignorant person own.So sick of people.

Rolex+Deebo wrote:So how did it go on CNN?I missed it, any one watch it?That poor child! Why would you ever leave a Newborn alone with a dog?People are so damn ignorant! And of course it had to be a pit, what else would an ignorant person own.So sick of people.